Germany announces 5-day strict shutdown amid covid spike

Berlin, Mar 23: Germany has announced extension of coronavirus restrictions until April 18 and enter a strict shutdown for five days over Easter in a bid to halt raising infection rates, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday.

Merkel called on citizens to stay at home for five days over the Easter holidays to try to break a third wave of the COVID19 pandemic.

"Essentially, we have a new virus...it is much deadlier, much more infectious and infectious for much longer," she said at a press conference in Berlin.

According to Rueters, she also pushed the leaders of Germany's 16 states to take a tougher stance to fight COVID 19 pandemic, reversing plans for a gradual re-opening of the economy agreed earlier this month after a sharp rise in infection rate.

Merkel further said that British coronavirus variant has become the dominant strain in Germany, meaning that Europe's biggest economy was "in a new pandemic".